Pepè Italia

Authentic Italian food is a rare luxury in Burleigh Heads, or it was, until the arrival of Pepé Italia.

Connor Streets’ latest eatery is owned and operated by three friends (one a chef) all of whom moved to Australia three years ago from northern Italy. Sounds good so far, right?

Using traditional recipes handed down from Nonna, the menu is filled with all the Italian dishes you know from arancini to homemade gnocchi, but there are a few lesser well known dishes that will have you preaching ‘Viva Italia’.

For entrée, don’t go past the house specialty Olive All’ascolanaa – green olives filled with pork, beef and chicken then crumbed a fried. As if the tangy goodness of olives wasn’t enough, now they’re stuffed and fried. Mouthfuls of salty perfection.

Prepare to have your mind blown by Spaghetti Alla Positano in Crosta di Pizza – a mouthful in more ways than one. It’s calzone cooked in the pizza oven filled with spaghetti and Napoli sauce, cherry tomatoes, prawns, calamari, clams, mussels and parsley. Even the biggest eaters will struggle with this one.

Make room for the Pepé, this is the pizza of choice made on a truffle puree base and topped with fior di latte (a soft Italian cheese), porcini mushrooms, sausage, rocket, Parmesan cheese and evo oil. It’s all your truffle dreams come true on a pizza.

An all-Italian beverage menu offers the original red Peroni (who knew) and imported soft drinks all the way from northern Italy to your grateful tastebuds.

Every minute detail has been taken care of to ensure an entirely Italian experience. Open for lunch and dinner, prepare yourself for a feast.